Nyāya (Sanskrit: Rule, or Method), one NyayaSanskrit“Rule” or “Method”one of the six orthodox systems (darśanadarshana) of Indian philosophy, important for its analysis of logic and epistemology. The major contribution of the Nyāya Nyaya system is its working out in profound detail the reasoning method of inference (seeanumānaanumana).

Like the other systems, Nyāya Nyaya is both a philosophy philosophical and a religionreligious; its ultimate concern is to bring an end to man’s human suffering, which results from ignorance of reality. Liberation is brought about through right knowledge. Nyāya Nyaya is thus concerned with the means of right knowledge.

In its metaphysics, Nyāya Nyaya is allied to the Vaiśeṣika Vaisheshika system, and the two schools were often combined from about the 10th century. Its principal text is the NyāyaNyaya-sūtrassutras, ascribed to Gautama (c. 2nd century BCBCE).

The Nyāya Nyaya system—from Gautama through his important early commentator Vātsyāyana Vatsyayana (c.AD450 CE) until Udayanācārya Udayanacharya (Udayana; 10th century)—became qualified as the Old Nyāya Nyaya (PrācinaPrachina-NyāyaNyaya) in the 11th century when a new school of Nyāya Nyaya (Navya-NyāyaNyaya, or New Nyāya“New Nyaya”) arose in Bengal. The best-known philosopher of the Navya-NyāyaNyaya, and the founder of the modern school of Indian logic, was Gaṅgeśa Gangesha (13th century).

The Nyāya Nyaya theory of causation defines a cause as an unconditional and invariable antecedent of an effect. In its emphasis on sequence—an effect does not preexist in its cause—the Nyāya Nyaya theory is at variance with the SāṃkhyaSamkhya-Yoga and Vedantist views, but it is not unlike modern Western inductive logic in this respect.

Three kinds of causes are distinguished: inherent, or material cause (the substance out of which an effect is produced); non-inherent cause (which helps in the production of a cause); and efficient cause (the power that helps the material cause produce the effect). God is not the material cause of the universe, since atoms and souls are also eternal, but is rather the efficient cause.